Thickness estimation of mechanically exfoliated Mo ₂ Ga ₂ C saturable absorber for ultrafast fiber laser application

This paper presents the development and evaluation of a nano-laminated ternary transition metal carbide (MAX phases)-molybdenum gallium carbide (Mo 2 Ga 2 C) as a saturable absorber (SA) for Q-switched erbium-doped fiber lasers (EDFLs). The thickness of the Mo 2 Ga 2 C SA, a critical factor influencing its nonlinear optical properties, was assessed through a simplified numerical estimation in MATLAB and verified experimentally using 3D laser microscopy. The two approaches showed excellent agreement, with a minimal discrepancy of 0.5135%, confirming the reliability of the fabrication process. The integration of Mo 2 Ga 2 C SA into a ring resonator cavity EDFL successfully generated stable Q-switched pulses with a peak power of 56.29 mW and a high repetition rate of 77.82 kHz at 1560.95 nm. These results highlight the strong potential of Mo 2 Ga 2 C as a high-performance SA for pulsed fiber laser, with promising applications in material processing, optical communication, light detection and ranging, remote sensing, spectroscopy, and medical applications.